2018 Week 0
Today, Morpheus attended the 2018 Week 0 competition which was hosted by Team 509 (Red Storm). During load in, we quickly set up our pit and tested all of our subsystems. After completing a systems test, we toured the pits and learned what other teams have been working on this season. In our first match, we were able to successfully score several Power Cubes in both the Switch and Scale! After winning all three of our qualification matches, we were ranked third going into alliance selection. During alliance selection, we were thrilled to invite Team 78 (Air Strike) and Team 5459 (Ipswich TIGERS) to join Alliance 3. In the quarterfinals, we set the current world high score of 398 points. We set another large score of 383 in the semifinals. Following some mechanical issues, we were excited to be moving to the finals. Despite our mechanical issues, the finals were intense. After ending the first match in a tie, our alliance won the next match. In the next two matches, Alliance 1, which consisted of our friends on Team 5687 (Outliers), Team 238 (Crusaders), and Team 3323 (Potential Energy), proved victorious. Team 5813 had a wonderful time at Week 0 and would like to congratulate Team 5687, Team 238, and Team 3323 on winning the event. We loved working with Team 78 and Team 5459 and hope to work with them again soon. Morpheus is excited for the rest of this season!
2018 FIRST Power Up Kickoff
Today was the kickoff of the 2018 FIRST Power Up season! After arriving at SNHU and talking with some friends, we sat down in the gym to prepare to watch the speeches and kickoff video. About 20 minutes before the speeches started, our friends on Team 1058 (PVC Pirates) showed us a leaked picture of the FIRST Power Up field. Analyzing this picture got us even more excited for the season. It was fantastic listening to the speeches, which were given by various FIRST members and government officials, including Dean Kamen, Governor Sununu, and Senator Hassan. Immediately after watching the game reveal, we hurried down the hall to the official FIRST Power Up field. After taking measurements, we got to talk to Andymark founder Andy Baker and FRC Director Frank Merrick. Once we arrived back at our workshop, we began reading the rules, unpacking the KOP, and compiling our "robot will" list. Morpheus is extremely excited for the rest of the 2018 FRC Season!
Morpheus Makes it to the Finals of the FIRST Parody Contest
Today, FIRST announced the twenty finalists in the 2017-2018 FIRST Parody Contest, and our team was listed as one of the finalists! The winners of the contest will be determined by a vote on FIRST's website over the next few weeks.
Here is Team 5813's entry to the FIRST Parody Contest:
5813 Ties at 93rd in the FRCTop25 Popularity Poll
Yesterday, FIRST Updates Now published the results for their FRCTop25 Popularity Poll, and our team was tied at 93rd! We are honored and humbled that other FRC teams regard us as being in the top 100 FRC teams world-wide!
Sponsor Visit - Dr. Luba Richter, DMD, PA
Today, we were thrilled to host one of our new 2018 sponsors, Dr. Luba Richter, DMD, PA, at the 5813 Workshop! We demoed our 2017 robot, Torquenado, talked about our team, took several pictures, and gave a tour of our build space. Morpheus thanks Dr. Richter for her generous sponsorship for the upcoming FIRST Power Up season! We hope that you will visit our workshop again soon!
2017 Battle of the Bay
Today, Morpheus travelled to Alton, New Hampshire, to compete at Battle of the Bay for the third time in our history. A large focus of this event was training next year’s drive team, so we had a brand new drive team for this competition. Additionally, we added a new wide-field camera, which we learned about from Team 1058 (PVC Pirates), to the front of our robot so we can see gears on the opposite side of the field. In our first match, one of the rotors fell off of the airship and was not considered a field fault. Later in the match, while we were climbing the rope, our bumpers caught the rotor and brought it up with us. Unfortunately, as the event was testing a beta version of the 2018 FMS, no on-board cameras were functioning. Throughout our qualification matches, our new drive team performed wonderfully. In another match, we scored five gears solo, aimed at the boiler with no cameras functioning, and scored about 4 KPA in the boiler before we went to climb. During Alliance Selection, we reunited with Team 501 (PowerKnights) on Alliance 5. On the second round of selections, we invited the practice/defense bot from Team 2648 (Infinite Loop). With this alliance, we were aiming to score three to four rotors, a few KPA, and two to three climbs in each match. After coming on strong and winning our first quarterfinal match, several strategic mistakes and missed climbs eliminated our alliance by a slim margin in the next two matches. Morpheus had a fantastic time at the 2017 Battle of the Bay and would like to congratulate our friends on Team 3467 (The Windham Windup), Team 4909 (Bionics), and Team 2370 (iBots) on taking home the win! See you all at the FIRST Power Up Kickoff next January!
15th Annual Governor’s Advanced Manufacturing and High Technology Summit
On October 27, 2017, Morpheus members attended the 15th Annual Governor’s Advanced Manufacturing and High Technology Summit in Concord, New Hampshire! After setting up our sponsor banner and preparing Torquenado, we were thrilled to be able to talk to Governor Sununu and show him our robot. During the rest of the day, we performed a number of demos to various attendees, explained what FIRST is about, and encouraged them to become involved with FIRST. While talking about our team, we met many wonderful people, including some new sponsors! At lunch time, we attended Dean Kamen’s speech to New Hampshire’s technology leaders. Following the speech, we handed out FIRST fliers to the participants. Morpheus had a fantastic time at the Governor’s Summit, and we hope to return in the future.
New Hampshire State House Press Conference
On September 5, 2017, local FIRST teams gathered at the New Hampshire State House for a press conference with Governor Sununu and Dean Kamen. Upon entering the State House, Team 5813 was selected to stand behind the Governor and Dean during the press conference. In the press conference, Governor Sununu and Dean announced plans to open grants for schools to start new FIRST teams in New Hampshire. After the press conference was over, we got to talk with Governor Sununu and Dean Kamen. We were thrilled to be able to participate in this event.
Morpheus Featured in the Hippo Newspaper!
Today's issue of The Hippo, which is a newspaper for Southern New Hampshire, features a picture of Torquenado on the cover and an interview with our team about Torquenado inside. Many other teams and robots are featured inside the paper as well. You can find the full article online here.
2017 Season Recap
Today, we are proud to present our 2017 Season Recap video! You can either view the video on our Media page or on YouTube here.
Morpheus has had a great year in 2017, winning the Creativity Award at the Southern New Hampshire District, becoming District Championship Finalists at the New England District Championship, and making it all the way to the World Championship for the second time in our two-year history! For the second year, we placed in the top five percent of teams worldwide. We also earned 195 District Points, ranked 11th in New England, and 3rd in New Hampshire.
Before the upcoming 2018 season kickoff in January, 2018, we still have a few more competitions and events with our 2017 robot, Torquenado.